Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

by **S. Heisley** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:55 pm

Iâ€™ve noticed that home kitchen and bath cabinets have an indented area that is approximately 3.5â€

by **Ageless** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:05 pm

I've torn down many small camping trailers over the years. None have had the indent at floor level; none had false bottoms. Seems every bit of space counts.

by **48Rob** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:41 pm

Hi Sharon,

It is called a "toe kick".

It is there to provide a space for your feet so your toes don't "kick" the cabinet, and to allow you to work at the counter without leaning over it.

While having a toe kick space makes it more comfortable to work at a counter, it is not something that you "must" have.

The "false bottom" as you called it is a base for the cabinets that allows the toe kick and can be scribed and cut to fit uneven floors.
In some homes the dead space is used to run heating/cooling ducts and vents.

Rob

by tk » Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:01 pm

Hi Sharon,

I've worked for two RV builders both of which built up-scale products. One built always with toe-kicks but no false floor to allow for more storage space. If you do it this way, you have to make sure you have walls going from floor to countertop so the toe-space doesn't collapse or use other means of support. My current employer offers two options. The better quality trailers have both toe-kick and false floor; the other package does without the toe-kick but also has no floors in the cabinets. You need to determine how important the comfort of a toe-kick is relative to the lost space of a false floor or added weight that may be encountered by supporting the cabinet differently. Depending on how you support the counter-top you may not increase weight by much.

Best,
Tom

by **starleen2** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:05 pm

48Rob wrote:
The "false bottom" as you called it is a base for the cabinets that allows the toe kick and can be scribed and cut to fit uneven floors.
In some homes the dead space is used to run heating/cooling ducts and vents.

Rob

. . . and living quarters for Rats

by **S. Heisley** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:33 pm

Wow! Talk about "Ask and ye shall receive!" Thanks to all of you for some really great answers! :thumbsup:

Based on your answers, I will definitely forego the false bottom floor. As far as the toe kick area goes, I will simply allow a small countertop overhang and let it go at that. It just makes more sense to me.

Many thanks to all of you!

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